1. Consider for a moment the closeness of St. Francis and St. Jane de Chantal. He recounted the specific dates of her previous letters, presumably meaning he has kept them. And this particular time he signs the letter simply as “F.” Why are genuine, pure God-centered relationships so important?2. What’s the point St. Francis is trying to make regarding hungering Holy Communion? Is there a wrong way to hunger for it? Also, what can we do to better assimilate Christ into our lives?3. St. Francis talks a lot o
Jan 23, 9:28 AM
VisitationSiste: 3. St. Francis talks a lot of being spiritually united in the Eucharist. Doesn’t this detract the focus away from Jesus? How/why is this a good spiritual practice?4. What’s the difference of God’s will in a particular point compared to God’s will in general? And why is St. Francis emphasizing the latter as more important to meditate upon?5. St. Francis says, “Consider God’s will in particular, by which he loves his own and consoles or afflicts them in various ways.” Why should we meditate on the afflictions
Jan 23, 9:29 AM
VisitationSiste: he sends as well as his consolations?
6. How can we learn to trust that God’s will “will do all things well for us and our happiness”?
Jan 24, 7:36 PM
VisitationSiste: Q 1: Why are genuine, pure God-centered relationships so important?
Jan 24, 7:36 PM
Carol Ann Chybowski: Ruth will try to email
Jan 24, 7:36 PM
VisitationSiste: ok
Jan 24, 7:37 PM
Lisa C: They come from the Holy Spirit
Jan 24, 7:38 PM
Lisa C: Sorry I did not do the reading, but that is what I would guess
Jan 24, 7:38 PM
VisitationSiste: hi Lisa! yes He unites souls- good start!
Jan 24, 7:38 PM
Carol Ann Chybowski: HiLisa!
Jan 24, 7:38 PM
Lisa C: Hi
Jan 24, 7:39 PM
VisitationSiste: We Consider for a moment the closeness of St. Francis and St. Jane de Chantal. He recounted the specific dates of her previous letters, presumably meaning he has kept them.
Jan 24, 7:39 PM
Carol Ann Chybowski: They are important because we are made to live in community and help each other
Jan 24, 7:39 PM
VisitationSiste: That was a God centered friendship
Jan 24, 7:40 PM
Guest9314 (Guest): It’s hard to find such relationships
Jan 24, 7:41 PM
VisitationSiste: I think they can help us get much closer to God in the sharing of the same focus and purpose
Jan 24, 7:41 PM
VisitationSiste: They are God given- not sure we can actually find them but be alert to them maybe
Jan 24, 7:41 PM
VisitationSiste: I had such in my prayer group
Jan 24, 7:42 PM
Lisa C: Maybe if we talk about God a lot, people with similar closeness to God will find one another.
Jan 24, 7:45 PM
VisitationSiste: Yes or even what we do here althomost of us have not met
Jan 24, 7:45 PM
Carol Ann Chybowski: It takes a long time to develop such a friendship
Jan 24, 7:46 PM
Lisa C: Or maybe we are meant to be more contemplative and are meant to be alone with God. Read Carmelite books
Jan 24, 7:46 PM
Carol Ann Chybowski: That is also true Lisa. Some of us are built to have just a few close friends
Jan 24, 7:46 PM
VisitationSiste: I think different times of ones life God gives different helps; sometimes people, sometimes solitude and maybe other ways
Jan 24, 7:47 PM
Carol Ann Chybowski: Like horses
Jan 24, 7:47 PM
VisitationSiste: Youth is often a time of close friendships but they are not always the best ones
Jan 24, 7:47 PM
Lisa C: I think a lot more people believe than we think, but they just do not talk about it until they are afraid
Jan 24, 7:48 PM
Lisa C: or they are embarrassed to admit it or something, because they do not talk about God for some reason
Jan 24, 7:49 PM
VisitationSiste: a safe forum helps
Jan 24, 7:49 PM
VisitationSiste: a safe place maybe
Jan 24, 7:49 PM
Carol Ann Chybowski: Out here we are actually nit allowed to at work
Jan 24, 7:49 PM
VisitationSiste: oh my has it come to that?
Jan 24, 7:49 PM
Lisa C: I do not think I could comply with that
Jan 24, 7:50 PM
Carol Ann Chybowski: Yes, because even if we are simply sharing the other person can say we are proselytizing
Jan 24, 7:50 PM
Lisa C: Can you present it as a question?
Jan 24, 7:50 PM
Carol Ann Chybowski: I don’t necessarily bring it up but when someone asks a question I answer
Jan 24, 7:50 PM
VisitationSiste: for example?
Jan 24, 7:50 PM
Lisa C: Such as, “Are you religious?”
Jan 24, 7:51 PM
Lisa C: “Do you believe in God?”
Jan 24, 7:51 PM
VisitationSiste: Maybe work is not the best place but a parish should be
Jan 24, 7:52 PM
VisitationSiste: St. Francis talks a lot of being spiritually united in the Eucharist. Doesn’t this detract the focus away from Jesus? How/why is this a good spiritual practice?
Jan 24, 7:53 PM
Lisa C: The Communion of the Saints is Communion with Jesus
Jan 24, 7:53 PM
Lisa C: Everyone with Him
Jan 24, 7:53 PM
Carol Ann Chybowski: It reminds us if our place in community
Jan 24, 7:54 PM
VisitationSiste: If we are together in Jesus there is no better place we can be united!
Jan 24, 7:54 PM
Lisa C: We were all made by God to be with God
Jan 24, 7:54 PM
Carol Ann Chybowski: Yes!
Jan 24, 7:54 PM
VisitationSiste: and thinking we are united in Him makes us think of Him and praise Him
Jan 24, 7:54 PM
Guest9314 (Guest): receiving holy comunion is receiving Jesus
Jan 24, 7:54 PM
VisitationSiste: Yes!
Jan 24, 7:55 PM
Lisa C: Jesus makes us able to be with God the Father again, by taking away the sin that separates us.
Jan 24, 7:56 PM
VisitationSiste: What’s the point St. Francis is trying to make regarding hungering Holy Communion? Is there a wrong way to hunger for it? Also, what can we do to better assimilate Christ into our lives?
Jan 24, 7:57 PM
Carol Ann Chybowski: I can’t imagine hunger for Holy Communion for any other reason but love of Jesus
Jan 24, 7:58 PM
Lisa C: I think a wrong way would be to try to go to Communion with mortal sin. St. Paul says that brings condemnation on us.
Jan 24, 7:58 PM
VisitationSiste: Actually I can’t either
Jan 24, 7:58 PM
Guest9314 (Guest): waiting to welcome Jesus
Jan 24, 7:58 PM
Lisa C: Yes, I talk to the Host and call Him Jesus.
Jan 24, 8:00 PM
VisitationSiste: from Ruth: via e mail: To:you Details
The only reason I knew that my mother prayed is that once I intruded on her in her bedroom and saw her kneeling at the side of her bed.
Sent from my iPad
Jan 24, 8:00 PM
Lisa C: Some people say receiving Communion in the hand should not be allowed, but I find it to be more personal because I can see Him and talk to him a bit longer.
Jan 24, 8:01 PM
VisitationSiste: So sometimes we can be in a family Ruth and not share each others spiritual lives
Jan 24, 8:01 PM
Carol Ann Chybowski: I think they want to be sure people actually consume the host. Once Father had yo stop Mass because someone did not
Jan 24, 8:03 PM
VisitationSiste: I’ve seen that happen
Jan 24, 8:03 PM
VisitationSiste: But there was Eucharistic sacrilege way back and that is how some eucharistic miracles later happened- watch Bob and Penny Lord on some of this
Jan 24, 8:04 PM
VisitationSiste: I think assimilating Jesus into our lives by reciting the Jesus prayer helps too
Jan 24, 8:04 PM
Carol Ann Chybowski: Yes!
Jan 24, 8:04 PM
Lisa C: Also enthroning the Sacred Heart in our home
Jan 24, 8:05 PM
VisitationSiste: FROM RUTH: But much later, shortly before my mother died, I prayed with her — Hail Mary and Our Father — in French. French was her first language. talk about religion was a taboo in our home because my parents were of two different Cchristian denominations — area of conflict.
Jan 24, 8:05 PM
Lisa C: Having a Crucifix at home too
Jan 24, 8:05 PM
Carol Ann Chybowski: I have an image of Divine Mercy that belonged to my Father
Jan 24, 8:05 PM
VisitationSiste: all this helps for sure
Jan 24, 8:06 PM
Guest9314 (Guest): What is Jesus prayer
Jan 24, 8:06 PM
VisitationSiste: Lord Jesus Christ Son of God have mercy on me a sinner
Jan 24, 8:06 PM
Carol Ann Chybowski: Jesus, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner
Jan 24, 8:07 PM
Lisa C: Also praying constantly, having a running conversation all day
Jan 24, 8:08 PM
Carol Ann Chybowski: John Michael Talbot has a wonderful book called the Jesus Prayer that will help,you learn
Jan 24, 8:08 PM
Lisa C: Jesus never leaves us, so we should not ignore Him
Jan 24, 8:08 PM
VisitationSiste: What’s the difference of God’s will in a particular point compared to God’s will in general? And why is St. Francis emphasizing the latter as more important to meditate upon?
Jan 24, 8:09 PM
VisitationSiste: Surely His Will to love Jesus is more important than say,a new job we are discerning?
Jan 24, 8:09 PM
Lisa C: God’s will in general is what actually happens with no control from us. We cannot stop God’s will. God’s will regarding a particular point is generally something we have a choice about.
Jan 24, 8:11 PM
Carol Ann Chybowski: So there are times when we have free will and some we don’t?
Jan 24, 8:11 PM
Lisa C: No, I mean God controls the world, even gets around sin and can make good from it.
Jan 24, 8:11 PM
Lisa C: We always have free will, but there are things that have no relation to our will.
Jan 24, 8:11 PM
VisitationSiste: St Francis de Sales whose Feast is today talked about the “2” wills of God, metaphorically- His signified will and His will of good pleasure
Jan 24, 8:12 PM
Carol Ann Chybowski: That is true, and what He wants prevails in the end
Jan 24, 8:13 PM
Lisa C: What do the two wills mean
Jan 24, 8:13 PM
VisitationSiste: FROM RUTH: To:you Details
I long for close Christ-centered relationships. And it is such a difficult change from attending daily Mass from age 13 to lately not even getting to Sunday Masses — live — regularly. At first the hunger was almost unbearable. Once I realized it was the will of God, at least for now, I found myself tolerating the “starvation” a little better.
Sent from my iPad
Jan 24, 8:14 PM
VisitationSiste: sIGNIFIED WILL IS LIKE THE 10 COMMANDMENTS and good pleasure the circumstances of life that God allows
Jan 24, 8:15 PM
Lisa C: What is it when we are trying to discern God’s will about a particular thing
Jan 24, 8:16 PM
VisitationSiste: In a way a combination becuae if God has a PLAN for us it fits in with signified but we may only discover it thru events in our life that lead us which is more of His good pleasure Great question! Need to ponder it more too
Jan 24, 8:18 PM
Lisa C: God does not exactly fit in our ability to describe Him
Jan 24, 8:18 PM
VisitationSiste: That is for sure!!
Jan 24, 8:18 PM
VisitationSiste: St. Francis says, “Consider God’s will in particular, by which he loves his own and consoles or afflicts them in various ways.” Why should we meditate on the afflictions
he sends as well as his consolations?
Jan 24, 8:19 PM
Lisa C: The Book of Job
Jan 24, 8:19 PM
Carol Ann Chybowski: They are also a sign of His providential care
Jan 24, 8:19 PM
VisitationSiste: we can learn from afflictions and sufferings, sometimes more than we learn any other way
Jan 24, 8:20 PM
Lisa C: By accepting them we glorify God, and He also sends them to bring us closer to Him testing and teaching
Jan 24, 8:20 PM
Lisa C: We also can offer them for souls and our soul
Jan 24, 8:21 PM
Lisa C: Suffering here can take away some of purgatory
Jan 24, 8:21 PM
Lisa C: God let the devil attack Job, to show how faithful Job would be
Jan 24, 8:22 PM
VisitationSiste: Jesus had afflictions so we resemble Him in that too
Jan 24, 8:22 PM
Carol Ann Chybowski: Nothing matters except the Cross. All that matters is that we be created anew.
Jan 24, 8:22 PM
Lisa C: Maybe Jesus still has afflictions, because sin hurts Him even now
Jan 24, 8:24 PM
Lisa C: If we can console Him he still has pain
Jan 24, 8:24 PM
VisitationSiste: Very good point again ; like Saul Saul why do you persecute me?
Jan 24, 8:24 PM
Lisa C: He still appears with wounds
Jan 24, 8:25 PM
VisitationSiste: Powerful to think about
Jan 24, 8:26 PM
VisitationSiste: last q How can we learn to trust that God’s will “will do all things well for us and our happiness”?
Jan 24, 8:26 PM
Lisa C: Because if it were not true we have nothing
Jan 24, 8:27 PM
Carol Ann Chybowski: have found a neat prayer called the litany of trust
Jan 24, 8:27 PM
VisitationSiste: where did you discover it
Jan 24, 8:28 PM
Carol Ann Chybowski: I found out about it from another person in my order. It is written by a sister in the Sisters of Life
Jan 24, 8:28 PM
Guest9314 (Guest): I have a prayer — I leave my future in the hands of my father,my father knows the best. I say this daily
Jan 24, 8:28 PM
VisitationSiste: That’s a good prayer too!
Jan 24, 8:28 PM
Carol Ann Chybowski: That is a beautiful prayer
Jan 24, 8:29 PM
Lisa C: 1 Corinthians 15:19. If for this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are of all men most to be pitied.
Jan 24, 8:30 PM
VisitationSiste: Yes that is a good summary quote
Jan 24, 8:30 PM
Lisa C: 1 Corinthians 15:13-15. 13 If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. 14 And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith. 15 More than that, we are then found to be false witnesses about God, for we have testified about God that he raised Christ from the dead. But he did not raise him if in fact the dead are not raised.
Jan 24, 8:30 PM
Ruth Does God’s will in general include his “permissive” will?
VisitationSiste: Well feel free to continue. May this week be blessed for you. Happy Feast!
Jan 24, 8:31 PM
Guest9314 (Guest): Happy Feast Sister
Jan 24, 8:31 PM
Carol Ann Chybowski: Happy Feast to you too! Thank you Sister:
Jan 24, 8:31 PM
Lisa C: God Bless you Mother
Jan 24, 8:32 PM
Lisa C: God bless all
Jan 24, 8:32 PM
Carol Ann Chybowski: Have a blessed week everyone!
Ruth: Often I pray: “Grant that I may love you always, then do with me what you will.” But to make that sink in, deep, deep, become a reality!